The Aftermath
by IceNinjaWarrior
Summary: Dante and the Seekers deal with the aftermath of the events in "Divide and Conquer", but the story includes anything after that. Lok/Sophie, Dante/Zhalia, Cherit, the Organization, and many Titans.


The night was calm and clear in France. Dante Vale and his team of dedicated Seekers were having themselves a little camping trip in the woods while keeping an eye out for the Organization Suits that might be lurking around. Dante and Zhalia Moon were watching the area for Suits, while Sophie Casterwill, Lok Lambert, and Cherit were in their tent studying, watching Sophie study, and watching Lok watch Sophie. Lok grabbed his father's journal out of his bag and began to flip through it. Cherit hovered over Lok's shoulder, watching him read. Sophie was trying to come to grips with her experience in the catacombs earlier. First she had touched the cursed Ring of Arc while casting a spell over it and then she fell into a burial pit and almost died, before Lok and Cherit came to rescue her. Lok had jumped down there and caught her before she fell. Sophie had held on to him in a tight embrace while she waited for him to pull them up. Now she was sitting in the corner of their tent reading a book, trying to memorize some new spells. She was still feeling quite exhausted, but she kept on reading. She closed the book and got up and got ready for bed. As soon as she stood up she got a headache and she felt dizzy. Suddenly she felt herself falling, so she prepared herself to hit the ground, but she never did. When she opened her eyes she came face to face with a pair of blue gray eyes. Lok had caught her before she hit the ground. Cherit was hovering above her, making sure she was ok.

"Hey Sophie, are you ok?" Lok asked.

"Yes, I'm fine Lok, I'm still just a little exhausted from the catacombs," she replied.

"Are you sure Sophie because I can --," she cut him off.

"Yes, I am fine Lok, I just need some rest is all," she replied. He wasn't really buying it, but he went along with her story anyway just to make her happy. She fell into a restless sleep. She tossed and turned. She got up and walked outside. Sophie decided that she would take a walk in the woods to clear her head. She took a flashlight, just in case, and began to walk. Unbeknownst to her that a Suit was hiding in the darkness just waiting to snatch her and take her back to the Professor. The Suit jumped out from behind the tree and grabbed her. Sophie let out a shrill squeal just loud enough for someone to hear. The Suit knocked her out. He used Hyperstride and jumped away with Sophie in his arms.

"SOPHIE," Lok screamed as he jolted awake.

"What is it Lok," Cherit asked.

"I heard Sophie squeal. She must have been kidnapped by someone and we have to find her because I--," he sounded broken.

"Because you what Lok," Cherit asked.

"Because, Cherit, I like her a lot ok," he said.

"We should wait until morning to search for her Lok. It's too dark out and it's dangerous even with your flashlight and magic training," Cherit told him.

"She could be hurt by morning. We have to start searching now," Lok said.

"The white thing is right. We should wait until morning to search for rich girl," Zhalia said walking into the tent. Lok knew she had a point and he _was_ too tired to argue with anyone, so he politely told Zhalia to leave and he lied down and fell asleep. Zhalia did the same thing in her tent.

**THE NEXT MORNING**

Zhalia woke up feeling warm, _too_ warm, she thought. She turned her head and saw a flurry of red to her left. She looked and it was Dante.

"Hello sleeping beauty," Dante said.

"Dante, how did we end up like this," Zhalia asked.

"Well sometime during the night you rolled over towards me and I just didn't have the heart to push you away, so I kept you close to me."

"I have to admit this does feel nice," Zhalia said blushing, "but as much as I would like to just lie here all morning like this, we need to help puzzle boy find his girlfriend before she ends up in more trouble than she's already in."

"You do that, I'm going on a little mission of my own. I hear that on the Amazons' island, they have a titan that's worth checking out. It's dangerous, but I'm going to do it anyway. How did Sophie get into her predicament anyway?"

"She was apparently taking a walk and puzzle boy heard her scream and by the time he woke up, she was already gone," Zhalia replied.

"Oh. well I'm sure you can handle the situation here. I'm going on my mission now. Goodbye Zhalia. Oh one other thing, those Amazons really don't like men too much so I might be there for a while. If there's anything you want to say to me, now's the best time to say it." Zhalia just stood there like a statue.

"Ok, well then I'm off. Bye," Dante said.

"Dante wait. There is something I want to say and I want to give you something for your mission."

"Ok what is it?"

"I'm in love with you and I want you to be safe Dante. I want you to come back alive and if any of those Amazons hurt you, they're going to answer to Kilthane."

"Wow Zhalia, I fell in love with you the moment I met you, it just took me this long to finally believe it. I love you too Zhalia. Now you said that you were going to give me something for the mission."

"Don't talk anymore Dante please," she begged. She placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him sweetly. Dante responded by putting his hands on her waist. She pulled her hands away from his face and slid them around his neck as the kiss deepened. Dante was the one to break the kiss.

"Zhalia, I really need to get going."

"Ok Dante. Be careful and come back alive."

"I'll be sure to do that for you Zhalia."


End file.
